Network traffic is transmitted across a network, such as the Internet, from a sending system (e.g., a computer system) to a receiving system (e.g., a computer system) via a network interface card (NIC). The NIC is a piece of hardware found in a typical computer system that includes functionality to send and receive network traffic.
Traditionally, each computer system included a single operating system and one NIC, and each NIC was associated with a single static MAC address. However, with advancements in NIC technology, some NICs may be configured with more than one MAC address.
With advances in virtualization technology, computer systems may now include multiple concurrently executing operating systems. When a system executing multiple operating systems is attached to NIC hardware with the functionality described above, the system may not be able to isolate network traffic destined to the various concurrently executing operating systems.